Quite the cull over the weekend as the box office continues to shuffle on without really killer content coming to make blockbusters exactly a weekly occurance.
Top of the casualty list was Spider-Man: Homecoming, the second unnecessary reboot of the franchise in recent years. The movie made around $26 million,
which is pretty solid and keeping with the trend in superhero flicks to blockbuster no matter how inane they are. The rise in Asian cinema at the Australian box
office continues with Wolf Warrior 2 making $1.6 million. The movie looks to be a Chinese martial arts effort, so knock yourself out there if you have
a Bruce Lee thing happening. Well it only lasted two weeks and earnt a miserly $550k but for Icon that isn't so bad given how poorly the Distributor has been
doing of late. What happened Guys? Increased competition, change of staff, serious cash flow issues? Hey guess what Disney made an animated movie that didn't
blockbuster indicating it was complete rubbish. Cars 3 dived out of the top twenty with a $13.4 million result, in the process losing its head to
head with Despicable Me 3 by a long shot. Am I filled with glee, nope, don't really give a toss but nice to see peeps don't simply rush cinemas if a
House of Mouse flick is playing. File under the "Keep the Bastards Honest" folder. And finally The Trip To Spain spun up $630k and wore on my patience
for no apparent reason.

Opening in top spot over the weekend American Made was solid enough with a $5,958 average over 359 screens for a bow of $2.1 million. The latest
Timmy Cruise epic sees the aging actor play yet another action hero, which is getting more in the taking the piss category than being a good casting choice.
The opening weekend result doesn't exactly give me any confidence for the future of this one, around $5.5 million total I would imagine.

Dropping to second spot Annabelle: Creation held remarkably well at -40.3% over the movie's third stanza. Remembering this is an out and out horror flick,
that is a very solid result that definitely shows a flick thriving off a very solid advertising campaign by the Bros. A further $911K was added to the running total,
that now stands at a very animated $5.9 million. Still some coin to be added here, expecting a result post $7 million from here. Nolan's DUnkirk continues
to hold its own with a -40.1% result over the movie's sixth weekend. Those falls are starting to take their toll however with the war flick adding just $644K, which
pushed total gross to $21.7 million. Guess the days of wine and roses are over at the Australian Box Office, though I had a vague notion there are still some tent
poles to coe at us.

With the dark genre scaring up solid results in 2017, I'm still pleased to see a hold over breaching breakout hit status and a new release earning more than expected.
Great times for your dark dreamers everywhere folks, confidence is high for the future. War for the Planet of the Apes went through the $10 million barrier
over weekend five, albeit on a -57% implosion. I think there is still some coin to be made here, though case of diminishing returns applies. Opening in second spot
was the Vendetta shark flick 47 Meters Down, which surpassed expectations with a $227K opening weekend gambit. That result is solidly above my prediction
and bodes well for a solid total gross. I would imagine the Distributor is hoping for three or so weekends of results to get the movie's name out there for future
disc sales, I'm ordering one as soon as the release date is confirmed.

What's Coming Up, if anything

Two releases next Thursday one local and one off the Hollywood conveyor belt should keep dark genre fans happy with their cinematic life. Event Zero sees a
biological terror attack launched in Sydney, with of course the local Bogans blaming the Islamic community, and of course the script making inane comments about
prejudice etc. Hollywood isn't alone in making grandoise statements, but actually doing nothing constructive about them. Expecting a low release strategy for this
one and a complete failure at the box office, it looks more like a made for television movie than a cinematic release. Wish Upon looks to be standard
horror fare, with the same plot we have seen a zillion times before. A teenage chick discovers a box with magic powers, but there is a price she may not want to pay
for using said powers. Expecting around $1.2 million opening, but a pretty straight down the drain result from there.